Our beautiful nephew, Ella & Felix's cousin, Emile is ONE year old today! Happy Birthday, have a wonderful day, wish we could be there to celebrate with you.

Visit to Granny's House

Last weekend, all of us took a trip out to Palm Desert to visit Granny (my Mom), and Jeanne (Nicki's Oma), who came from Florida to visit her daughter Lynne. Felix got his first dip in the pool, and Ella even got her feet wet, which is unusual for her, since she wouldn't go near a pool before. Felix didn't know what to think of it. It wasn't like he was home in his nice warm bathtub, which he loves to get in.



Ella loves my Mom's dogs, especially Jasper, who loves to play with Ella.



In the end, we have a hard time getting Ella to leave, since she loves her Granny so much. She especially loves when Granny takes her for a ride in a golf cart, since she can get in a car without being strapped into a car seat and can act like a big girl.



We went out to lunch with Jeanne, and she took Felix to Toys R Us to get him a bouncer. We set it up at home and he loved it (I'm sure we'll have pictures in a later post).

Ella the Photographer

Ella has started to get the hang of taking pictures with our digital camera, and has graduated from being a shutterbug to a real photographer. When she first started doing it she was trying to act like a fashion photographer, swinging the camera around and acting like she was taking pictures, saying "Yeah, baby. Give it to me." Maybe I made up that last part. But they usually turned out like this one:



Now she actually takes the time to stop and frame the picture, which is pretty advanced for a three year-old. She practices all the time with her Disney princess camera, which doesn't actually take pictures, but which makes a snapping noise and says, "You look wonderful." Ella repeats this saying when she takes pictures with the real camera.



That one she got the framing right, but out of focus. You can't ask too much from a little girl. However, then she does things like this:



I was very impressed that she could take a picture that well. And then, well, little girls will be little girls.



As you can tell, her doll Baby Polish is more important to her than her mother (that's who's holding her).

My uncle Marshall and aunt Melanie came to visit recently, bringing with them my cousin Janet's daughter Alexa. My uncle is Mom's brother, and I used to play with his daughter and son David when I was a kid, since I was only a couple of years older than they were. Alexa and Ella seemed to be having a good time together as well, so a Dennis family tradition continues.

Felix laughs

4 months old!

Felix is four months old today! He had a check-up with Dr. Jena and is doing great. His current stats are: weight 17 lbs 5 oz (7.85 kg) length 26 inches (66 cm). Unfortunately he still has the tail end of a cough and now has a little ear infection but this doesn't seem to affect his mood at all; he is as easy-going and happy as usual mostly. He is starting to teethe, and we can see little white toothbuds in his gums, with lots of drool to match. He has an adorable chuckle-laugh, which is often directed at his big sister. Here are some more pictures of Felix and Ella and their dear Opa, who sadly has now gone back home to Holland.

Ella is ready to go to the park:


If you look closely, you can see Felix's outline inside Mama's wrap:

An Opa Visit